SimCity to return in 2013 (video)

Things you might also like

Get your high-visibility vest out of the draw and put on your hard-hat as you're about to get building - SimCity style. EA has confirmed that SimCity will return in 2013 and has released a teaser trailer with footage from the new game.

Actually, as it's all virtual and the building work operated by a mouse and keyboard rather than a JCB there's no need for the building gear. But putting them on will surely get you in the mood for the revival of one of the biggest games of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Yes, we know there was SimCity 2000 in 1993, SimCity 3000 in 1999, SimCity 4 in 2003, SimCity DS and SimCity Societie in 2007, SimCity Creator and SimCity DS 2 in 2008, as well as SimCity Deluxe HD for iPad and SimCity Deluxe for Android last year - but that's no reason to not get excited.

Because, 24 years after it was first unleashed, in the words of its makers "the franchise that laid the foundations of the city building simulation genre is back - empowering players to create the world of their imagination".

This SimCity remake will add in new challenges such as dealing with climate change, the search for renewable resources and natural disasters. The graphics look a tad better than the original as well.

"We’d like to thank the millions of fans who have helped make SimCity synonymous with the city-building genre," said EA Maxis senior VP Lucy Bradshaw. "This is a franchise that means the world to us at Maxis and we’re happy to be bringing it back home where we are reimagining it for an entirely new generation of players. Using our proprietary GlassBox Engine, SimCity for PC will equip players with the tools to play the most sophisticated simulation of its kind."

No word on what platforms it will hit yet - just that it will have "the fun, flavour and playability that has been intrinsic to the franchise since its birth" no matter what console you play it on.

The game will run on a new engine Maxis are calling GlassBox. It is the simulation engine that powers the world of SimCity and works on the philosophy of What You See Is What You Sim; every aspect of the game is an agent that reports back to the underlying simulation. It looks impressive.